Heart Troubles
by Everlasting Hello
Summary: "You've been causing me a lot of trouble with your little panic attacks," Rin said angrily. She heard a light whimper, and her heart jumped painfully. "I don't want to hurt you anymore. Please help me." "How? Where are you?"


AN - Welcome to another charming episode of _This Author Does Not Know How To Write Good Summaries or Titles._ Seeing as you're on this page, that means that you must have clicked the story anyways, you brave soul. _Arigatou gozaimasu!_

* * *

"Good morning, Rin-chan!" Rin had been kneeling down to tie her shoelaces. She glanced up at the green-haired girl standing before her and grinned.

"Morning, Miku! You seem to be in a good mood. Did your mom finally refill your prescription?" Miku nodded as she swung her bookbag around in a recklessly cheerful way, almost whacking Rin in the process.

The green-haired girl had a mental disorder that made her dangerously unpredictable if she wasn't medicated. Her mother had tried to wean her off her pills more than once, and each time she had developed a hair-trigger temper that eventually devolved into uncontrollable rage, at which point she always lashed out. The usually happy girl would attack anyone when she was off her meds, so Rin hoped that maybe Miku's mother had learned her lesson and would stop trying to "fix" her.

Rin finally finished with her shoelaces and stood. She fell into step beside her green-haired friend as the two girls walked to school. Miku was chattering about something, so Rin did her best to stop thinking about the other girl's mental condition and pay attention to what she was saying.

"Miku thought she wouldn't forgive Okaa-san this time. This is the tenth time she's refused to refill her prescription, and Miku was really mad about it. But Okaa-san apologized, so Miku had to forgive her."

Talking in third person was one of the quirks that Miku usually developed whenever she finally got back on her meds after being forced to go without them. She also had a tendency to use Japanese honorifics at these times, but Rin wasn't sure if that was a quirk or if the other girl simply liked to talk that way. Miku Hatsune was a very strange girl, but the two of them had been friends since childhood, so Rin was used to it. It wasn't the green-haired girl's fault that she was weird, most people that were born in a laboratory would be even stranger.

"...chan! Rin-chan!"

"Huh?" Rin jerked and looked at Miku. The green-haired girl crossed her arms and pouted at the blond.

"Rin-chan isn't listening to Miku, is she?" Rin blinked, then she got a sheepish look on her face.

"No, sorry. I was just thinking about something." Miku looked away, her eyes suddenly darkening.

"That 'something' being how weird Miku is, right?" Rin sighed. Another quirk of Miku's was that she seemed to be able to read Rin's mind. Like the other quirks, it usually disappeared a few days after the green-haired girl became readjusted to her medicine. "Does Rin-chan wish that Miku wasn't so weird?" Rin shook her head until she felt her hair clips threatening to fall out.

"No, of course not! You're my best friend, and I wouldn't want you to behave any other way!" Miku giggled and gave Rin a bright smile, and Rin felt herself smiling in return. A sudden pain pierced her chest so sharply that it took her breath away, and she felt her smile vanish as one of her hands flew up to her chest.

"Rin-chan? Is everything all right?" Miku asked. Rin grimaced as she felt her heart start beating like it was trying to break through her ribs.

"My...heart..." she gasped out weakly. Her knees buckled, and Miku quickly caught her before she collapsed on the sidewalk.

"Does Rin-chan have her medicine in her bag?" Miku asked as she gently lowered her friend to the ground.

"...Syringe..." was all that Rin could say, but Miku understood. She opened a pocket on the other girl's bag and pulled out a small needle and syringe. Rin felt a sharp sting on her arm just before she blacked out.

* * *

"Are you sure she's okay? I can drive her to the hospital if we need to."

"Rin-chan's fine. She has a heart problem, but with her medicine she'll be all right." Rin opened her eyes to see that quite a few people had gathered around them on the sidewalk. Miku was still kneeling beside her, doing her best to get the small crowd to disperse.

"Miku..." Rin rasped out weakly. The green-haired girl looked down at her and smiled happily, but Rin saw the worry in her friend's wide eyes.

"See? Rin-chan is fine," Miku said to the people. She then stood up and pointed at the man who had offered to drive them to the hospital. "But if your offer still stands, can you drive us to our school? Rin-chan needs to take it easy for a little bit, but if we don't hurry we'll be late."

The man blinked, but then he nodded quickly. He helped Miku get Rin into the backseat of his car. Miku quickly explained to him how to get to their high school, then she sat back and looked at Rin with a worried look on her face.

"Is Rin-chan sure she's okay?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, you gave me my medicine, so I'm fine," Rin answered. Miku frowned.

"Rin-chan keeps having attacks like that. Maybe she should go back..." Her voice trailed off, but Rin knew what she meant.

The two girls were childhood friends because they had both been made in the same laboratory as part of the "Vocaloid project". Since Miku had mental problems and Rin had a messed up heart, they had both been labeled as failed projects. They were lucky that the laboratory had been kind enough to let them be adopted, instead of disposing of them like trash. They still had to go back to get Miku's medicine for her mental disorder and to get checkups on Rin's heart, but they were not supposed to speak of the laboratory around other people. The two girls both glanced at the man driving the car and sighed.

"I've gone back multiple times since my operation, but all they say is that there's nothing more they can do," Rin whispered.

"That operation was crap. You never had fits like this before they did that," Miku whispered back angrily. It seemed that her speaking quirks had disappeared with her good mood.

"You know that operation was good for me. I used to have a lot more problems before it," Rin replied. Miku snorted and crossed her arms. The two girls did not speak anymore on the way to school.

* * *

They managed to reach the school right before the first bell rang. Rin sat down in her desk and let out a tired sigh.

"Hey, are you all right?" Rin lifted her head and turned around. The girl who had spoken, Gumi, was sitting in the seat behind her and had a worried look on her face.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Rin said cheerfully. Gumi frowned, obviously not completely convinced.

"You look really pale," she stated bluntly. Rin blinked, then shrugged. Lucky for her, the teacher chose that moment to come into the classroom, giving her a good excuse to turn around and not answer any more questions.

The teacher started talking and Rin tried to take notes, but it was hard for her to focus. Her heart had mostly calmed down, but it was still beating a little erratically. She put a hand on her chest and frowned. She had had heart problems all her life, but Miku was right when she had said that the fits were new. She didn't know what was triggering them, and that scared her more than anything. What if her heart was finally giving up on her?

_Hey..._

Rin jumped in surprise, then looked around quickly. Had the teacher realized that she was zoning out on him? No, he was still fully focused on his lesson. No one seemed to paying any attention to her at all, so who had spoken?

_Hey..._

She looked around again. Nobody seemed to be trying to get her attention. What the heck...?

_Can you hear me?_

Rin's jaw dropped when she realized where the voice was coming from. Was she seriously hearing a voice inside her head?

_You **can** hear me, right?_

Her heart suddenly leaped in her chest, and she almost bit her tongue in surprise. Her heart started pounding again like it had earlier, and her breathing became shallow as she started to panic. No, she couldn't have another fit! Not here, in the middle of class, without Miku to help her!

_I'm sorry, I guess this is a bad time..._

Her heart suddenly slowed back down to its regular pace, and Rin let out a deep sigh of relief. She tried to refocus her attention on what the teacher was saying, but her hands were shaking so badly that she couldn't take notes. The voice didn't speak again for the rest of the class, but now she had many questions that she wished she could ask it.

* * *

"So, let me get this straight - you heard a voice talking inside your head, and then you started to have a fit, but then the voice apologized and your fit stopped, and you haven't heard from the voice since?" Miku twirled her fork around in her long fingers as she stared at Rin. The small blond nodded at Miku's summary of what had happened during first period.

"You need to go back _there_ as soon as you can," Miku said firmly as she started winding some of her spaghetti noodles onto her fork. It was their lunch period, but Rin didn't feel very hungry.

"What are they going to do? Prescribe some medicine for me because they think I'm crazy?" she asked. Miku shrugged as she lifted her noodle-laden fork to her lips.

"You might _be_ crazy, or at least have a mental disorder like me," she said before putting the noodles into her mouth.

"But wouldn't a mental disorder have shown up before now?" Rin protested. Miku tapped the tines of her fork against her lips as she chewed slowly. She finally swallowed and looked at Rin.

"I think you've been going through a lot of stress lately because of your heart problem. Maybe you just imagined the voice because you were freaking out."

"But I heard the voice _before_ the fit started," Rin said firmly. Miku finally made a resigned shrug.

"I don't know. We have two entirely different problems, so I don't know what to do for you. I still think you should go get a checkup, but it's your choice what you want to do."

Rin crossed her arms on the table and rested her head on them. She _really_ didn't want to go back and end up being prescribed some mental medicine like Miku, but she didn't know what else to do.

"I'm just going to wait and see if the voice starts talking again," she said without lifting her head. Miku shrugged again as she started winding some more pasta onto her fork.

"Okay, whatever seems best to you. Now eat something, or you're going to get sick."

Miku was like a totally different person when she became readjusted to her medicine. She was a lot calmer and very rational, and she talked in a normal way. Rin wondered if the stress of her having a fit had caused her friend to snap back to her normal self quicker than usual. Since both girls worried about each other's condition, they both were very stressed whenever the other was having problems. Sometimes it felt like they mothered each other more than their adoptive mothers.

"If you finally decide to go get a checkup, call me beforehand so I can go with you," Miku said firmly. Rin nodded quickly.

"Of course. I always do that."

* * *

Rin let out a long sigh as she dropped her schoolbag and flopped down on her bed. She had managed to get through the rest of her day without having another fit or hearing from the voice again, so it seemed to have been an okay day.

_Hey..._

Not again. Seriously?

_Can you hear me?_

Rin closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Yes, I hear you just fine. Who are you, and what do you want?" The voice didn't speak for several seconds, giving Rin time to think just how crazy she must be to be hearing it again.

_It's nice to hear your voice... it's been a long time since I heard it..._

Rin ground her teeth in frustration.

"Excuse me, do you know me or something? Can't you tell me who you are?"

_You probably don't remember me,_ the voice said quietly.

"I might if you would just tell me your name already!" Rin snapped. She heard a sharp cry of fear from the voice and felt her heart jump into overdrive again. As she struggled for breath and dug her fingers into the sheet on her bed, she heard the voice repeating itself over and over.

_I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..._

"St-stop! Please!" Rin barely managed to gasp the words out. Her heartbeat suddenly fell back to normal, and she just lay still for several moments as she gasped for breath. The voice was still apologizing nonstop, and she felt a wave of hot irritation at it.

"Are you the one that's been making me have fits?" The voice kept apologizing as if it hadn't heard her, and she had to bite her tongue to keep from snapping at it again. "Stop apologizing and answer me, please," she said firmly. The voice finally stopped, and for a few moments it was quiet.

_Y-yes, that is m-my fault_, it said quietly.

"Why are you doing that? And how?" she asked. There was a long silence, much longer than any of the previous ones, and she thought that maybe the voice had stopped again.

_I can't help it. Whenever I get scared, I lose control like that... I'm sorry._

She bit her lip to keep from cussing at the voice.

"You've been causing me a lot of trouble with your little panic attacks," she said angrily. She heard a light whimper, and her heart jumped painfully.

_I don't want to hurt you anymore. Please help me._

"How? Where are you?" she asked, but once again the voice seemed to have stopped listening.

_Help me, help me, help me, help me, help..._

It soon faded away, leaving Rin laying on her bed, helplessly frustrated.

* * *

Her dreams that night were all wrong. She heard sharp squeaks that reminded her of the wheels on a buggy and saw a series of lights passing over her, one after another. She felt a sharp pain, and when she looked down she saw that she was clawing at the skin on her arm with her own fingernails. She tried to stop but couldn't, so she just watched helplessly as she clawed until blood started trickling down her arm. Then she felt her tongue start clicking against the roof of her mouth, and she couldn't stop that either. Rin felt trapped in her own body, and above it all she heard the voice, muttering constantly. She caught fragments every now and then, stuff like _I didn't mean it_; _Please don't do that_, and more often than not the endless repetition of _I'm sorry_.

She heard a door slamming shut and felt tears start running down her cheeks as the voice continued apologizing endlessly. What was all this? The last thing she heard before she woke up was the voice screaming, _Please help me!_

* * *

Rin jerked awake, her heart pounding in her ears. Her wide eyes darted around the room quickly, then she let out a sigh of relief when she realized she was in her own bedroom. She could feel her heart slowing down already, meaning that it had been her own panic that made it race instead of the voice. The small blond got off her bed and dug through her schoolbag until she found her cellphone. She held the phone to her ear as she opened her closet and started picking out clothes.

"Hello, Miku? I'm going back to the lab today, so do you want to go with me?"

* * *

"I've never seen you this nervous before, Rin," Miku said as she raised one eyebrow.

The two girls were sitting in an examination room at the laboratory. Rin kept tugging on the ends of her hair and swinging her feet anxiously, the constant urge to _move_ slowly driving her nuts. She had never felt this uneasy about getting a checkup before, and she couldn't help wondering if it was the voice's fault. It had been eerily silent all morning, but the flutters and jumps she kept feeling in her heart were a constant reminder of what it could do.

Rin started scratching at her arm absentmindedly, then gasped and jerked her hand away when she realized what she was doing. Miku blinked when she noticed the other girl's actions.

"Are you okay?" she asked carefully. Rin shook her head in an angry way.

"No. I can't shake the feeling that there's something bad here, that-"

_Help me._

Rin jumped, her eyes widening.

"How? How can I help you?" she asked, ignoring the alarmed look on her friend's face.

_This place... it's bad. Get out of there, get out._

Rin stood up and stomped one foot angrily.

"Stop being so dang cryptic and give me a straight answer for once!"

_Get out, get out, GET OUT!_

Rin jumped and let out a squeal of alarm. The voice always sounded so scared and miserable, she had not expected for it suddenly yell inside her head. She braced herself for a fit and the endless flood of apologies, but neither of them happened.

_...Why are you so selfish?_

Rin felt her jaw drop open in surprise.

_All I wanted was to be happy. They let you and that girl leave, to go outside, but they forced me to stay in this place! They said I was too broken for medicine, that no prescription could fix my mind! It's their fault that I was born like this, and now they just want to sweep me away like a dead leaf! I DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS!_

A harsh scream jumped from Rin's throat as she dropped to her knees and covered her ears with her hands.

_Are you happy now? You took all that I had left! YOU TOOK EVERYTHING!_

"I don't understand, what did I do?" Rin cried. Her mind was blasted with a series of images that made about as much sense as the previous night's dream.

She felt her own fingernails rake across her skin countless times as everything she saw became a frenzy of lights and voices. The sheer fear and confusion made her want to just jump up and run until she found somewhere that made _sense_. Then it all suddenly stopped, to be replaced by one voice and image.

"He's like a broken record." The man who said this paused to chuckle before continuing. "Whenever he's scared he starts repeating himself, over and over and over. He twitches and scratches his arms whenever he's anxious, and he's always anxious! What a pathetic way to live!" The man laughed, and Rin lowered her head in shame. She saw a pair of arms that were covered in long scratch-marks, some of which were bleeding from the recent abuse.

"I'm sorry," she whispered as her eyes filled with tears.

"What was that?" The man asked as he turned to face her.

"I said I'm sorry!" she cried. Laughter bounced around the room, and she realized that she was sitting on a table in the middle of a room filled with people.

"So when you propose using him to save the girl..." somebody said. The man nodded firmly.

"There is no fixing this boy, and he will not have a decent life with his current mental condition. It would be perfectly acceptable to use him to fix the girl since she has no mental problems and is mostly normal, save for her heart." Rin's eyes widened in horror when she realized what he was suggesting they do.

"No!"

"Rin! Rin, it's okay! Wake up!" Miku was kneeling in front of her, shaking her and calling her name. Rin suddenly opened her eyes and took a shuddering breath. She immediately took her hands off her ears and stretched her arms out in front of her. Her skin was unmarked, and she let out a jagged gasp as she remembered the badly scratched arms she had seen.

_My name is Len. We used to play together when we were little, before you left._

Rin placed her hands on the floor to steady herself. Miku was still kneeling in front of her and staring at her with wide, frightened eyes. Rin took a deep breath before she replied to Len.

"I think I remember that. You had blond hair and green eyes like me, right?"

_Yeah. We were made to be siblings, so we looked very similar. I always felt safer when you were around, so my condition didn't bother me very much. After we were separated, I went downhill fast._

Rin closed her eyes as she remembered that endless scratching she had felt.

"So that's why you hate me."

_No, I don't hate you at all. Sometimes I resent you because you're free and I'm stuck here, but even that isn't your fault._

"You said you wanted my help, but how can I help you?"

_You'll understand better when you get here._

Rin opened her eyes and straightened up. Miku jumped slightly at the sudden movement.

"Rin? Are you okay now?" the green-haired girl asked warily.

"I'll be better when we find Len," Rin said as she stood up and headed for the exit. She yanked open the door, only to come face-to-face with a male scientist.

"Ah, Miss Rin-"

"We've got to go to the bathroom, we'll be back in a minute," Rin said quickly as she slipped past him into the hallway. As she hurried down the hall, she could hear Miku behind her struggling to catch up.

"Rin! Where are we going, and who's Len?" the green-haired girl asked.

"Len is the voice, and we're going to find him," Rin said shortly.

"What? How are we going to do that?" Rin stopped suddenly, and Miku let out a surprised squeak as she almost slammed into the shorter girl's back.

"Len? Can you at least tell me where you are?" the small blond asked quietly under her breath. She waited for a response, but there was none. Rin stomped her foot in frustration. "Dang it, Len! Why is it you only talk to me when I don't want you to?" She suddenly heard another foot stomp somewhere behind her and turned. "Miku, was that you?" Miku tilted her head in confusion.

"Was what me?" Rin stared at her green-haired friend for a few seconds, then she suddenly stomped the floor again. From further down the hall she heard the same sound, but she didn't feel like it was just an echo.

"Rin, are you all right?" Miku asked slowly. Rin realized that the green-haired girl was probably thinking that her supposedly sane best friend was having a breakdown.

"Fine, everything's fine," Rin muttered as she slipped past Miku and started down the hall. She stopped again when she realized that she was now hearing an extra set of footsteps. They were coming from the same direction that the earlier stomping had come from, but Rin could clearly see that there was nobody there. She smiled grimly. Maybe she was going crazy, but if she followed those footsteps...

"Come on, Miku," Rin said quickly as she started down the hall again. She could clearly hear the footsteps tapping down the hall in front of her. They were always just a little ahead of her and seemed to be matching her pace perfectly.

Later, Rin wouldn't remember much of what was going on during this time. Her mind was intently focused on the footsteps, so everything else just seemed to be a blur. She was almost surprised when she realized that she was standing in front of a closed door. Her heart was beating quickly and lightly, but this seemed to be from her hurrying instead of any interference from Len. The footsteps had stopped, so maybe this room was where she was supposed to be. Rin stomped one foot experimentally, and she could just faintly hear another stomp on the other side of the door. She tried the doorknob, and to her surprise it was unlocked. She glanced back and saw that Miku was standing right behind her, her wide eyes staring at Rin warily.

"I think Len is in here," Rin said quickly, then she opened the door and stepped into the room. It was almost completely dark, with no windows that Rin could see. After a few moments, her eyes picked out some small, colored lights on one side of the room, but that was it. She heard machines beeping softly, so it was safe to assume that the lights were from those machines.

Miku entered the room behind her and started feeling around for a light switch. She quickly found it and flipped on the lights, making Rin squint slightly. The small blond looked at the side of the room with the machines and blinked. The beeping machines were all clustered around what seemed to be a hospital bed. Her stomach sank when she saw the white sheet that was covering most of the bed. There was a small form under the sheet, so she approached the bed cautiously.

"Len? Are you in here?" she asked in a low voice, hoping that _maybe_ he would finally answer her. She reached the head of the bed and grabbed the edge of the sheet. She gently pulled it down, revealing the face of a pale boy with messy blond hair.

"Is... Is that...?" Miku was standing beside her, staring at the boy with wide eyes.

"He looks like the boy I remember," Rin answered quietly. He looked to be around the age she was now, but it was easy to see that this was the boy she had played with when she was little. Rin noticed several wires and tubes that ran from under the sheet to the machines and felt a pang in her heart. "Len, what's going on?" she asked in a small voice.

_Because your heart kept messing up, they gave you mine. I thought it was all going to be over then, but then they decided to keep me on life support to see if I would keep developing without a heart, and so they could use me if you ever needed another organ donation. I've been trapped in here ever since._

Rin's stomach heaved, and for a second she was sure she was going to vomit.

"Rin?" Miku's voice was a high shriek of fear. She had spent most of the day in helpless confusion, and the stress was starting to make her jumpy and scared.

"His heart," Rin gasped between heaving breaths. "They cut his heart out and put it in me. That's why I keep having fits, because he's still alive even though I have his heart." Miku's eyes widened, and she quickly stepped back from the bed.

"I... I thought that they just did something to _your_ heart..." she said. Rin nodded in agreement.

"I had thought the same thing." She turned back to look at Len again and shuddered.

_Please calm down, or one of us is going to have a fit. Probably both of us, actually._

Rin shuddered again, then she took a deep breath.

"Okay. You said you needed my help, but how can I possibly help you when you're like this?"

_I'm trapped here. There's no way for me to escape, and I can't even move anymore. I asked you to come here so that you could end it._

Rin looked at the blinking machines and felt a low current of dread move through her.

"End it how?" she asked slowly, hoping desperately that he wouldn't say what she was thinking.

_Turn off the life support machines._

Rin shook her head weakly, then shook it again, much harder.

"I c-can't. Y-you're asking me to k-k-kill you."

_Please, Rin. You don't understand what it's like, to spend all your life buzzing and itching. To constantly be having to move, to get out. It's like being trapped in your own skin, and now I'm trapped in a body I can't even move in! _

Rin felt her heart hammer hard against her ribs. She curled her hands into tight fists.

"I'm sorry, but I can't!" She felt a gentle touch on her arm and looked up.

"What is he asking you to do?" Miku asked softly.

"He wants me to turn off the life support machines, but that would be murder!" Rin cried. Miku blinked, then she turned to look at Len.

"Tell me, what was wrong with him?" she asked. She sounded so calm that it was almost eerie.

"He had a mental disorder. He spent most of his time feeling anxious and clawing his own arms, and they didn't have a medicine that could help him." Miku's eyes filled with sadness.

"That's horrible," she muttered. She started to walk over to one of the machines, and Rin freaked.

"What are you doing?" she shrieked. Miku turned to look at her.

"I'm going to do what he wants, since you can't."

"But, Miku-"

"Look, Rin, it's impossible for you to understand people like us." Rin tilted her head in confusion.

"Us?"

"I may not have the same problem as Len, but I know what it feels like to not be able to control yourself," Miku said firmly. "When my mom refuses to refill my prescription, I can feel myself losing control, and it's a scary feeling. It's like driving a fast car when the brakes fail and you're at the mercy of the road. To be that way all the time, with no medicine to stop it, must be a scary way to live."

Rin could do nothing but stare. She had never heard Miku speak this way before, and it was almost frightening how intense the green-haired girl could be.

"And now, to be totally helpless like this... I want to do whatever I can to help him, even if it means helping him die," Miku finished. She turned back around and started looking around on the machines.

_What is that girl's name?_

Rin looked down at Len and felt her eyes start stinging.

"She's Miku Hatsune," she whispered.

_Thank her for me, please._

"Rin, I found how to shut these machines down. Will you tell Len good bye for me?" Rin looked up at Miku and swallowed hard.

"I think he can hear you," she said in a shaky voice. Miku tilted her head, then looked down at Len.

"Well, even though I didn't really know you, good bye, Len. I hope you go somewhere better after this."

"Good bye, Len," Rin whispered.

_Thank you, Rin._

Then Miku stopped all the machines. Sharp pain exploded in Rin's chest, and she was unconscious before she hit the ground.

* * *

"Rin? Rin? Oh my god, please wake up!" Rin's eyes fluttered weakly, than opened completely. Miku's tear-streaked face was hovering over her, and her head was pounding painfully. She was vaguely aware of people moving around them in the room, and someone was yelling at them angrily, but she wasn't totally sure what was going on. Her eyes closed, and when they opened again she was in a different room. She sat up and looked around in confusion.

"Miku?"

"Over here." Rin turned and saw her friend sitting a few feet away from her, leaning back against the wall with her legs stretched out in front of her. The green-haired girl rubbed her eyes with one of her hands, and Rin could see that she had been crying.

"What happened?" Rin asked.

"You passed out, and I thought for sure that you were going to die, too. Then a bunch of scientists came in the room and started yelling about us ruining one of their experiments," Miku explained quickly. Rin frowned.

"Oh yeah... I wasn't thinking that the lab probably wanted to keep him alive for their study." Miku shrugged.

"They were treating him like a lab rat, so I don't think they'll be able to do much to us for turning off the life support. What they were doing was unethical, so I don't think they can charge us with murder or anything like that."

"Can they revive him?" Rin asked as she pulled her legs up to her chest.

"They tried to, but it didn't work. He's gone." Miku drew in a shuddering breath and rubbed her eyes again. "I hope he'll be happier now," she said quietly.

Rin looked down at the floor. She remembered the little boy she had played with a long time ago, the twitchy boy with messy hair. She had noticed back then that he was a little different, but it hadn't really mattered at that age.

"Hey, Miku?"

"Hmm?" The green-haired girl looked up at her.

"Len asked me to thank you for helping him," Rin said. She blinked as she realized something. "I should have thanked him for my new heart," she murmured. She felt her heart give one hard beat and smiled sadly.

_You're welcome. I hope we can play together again someday._

* * *

AN - If you haven't heard it already, I suggest you go listen to Vitalism. It's a really sweet song sang by Miku... and has absolutely nothing to do with this story. I just thought I'd suggest it since it's so freaking _adorable._

Anyways, back to the story... yeah. This is an idea I've been kicking around since my biology teacher from almost two years ago said that one day rich people would probably be able to have clones made for their kids as soon as they're born so that if the kids ever need an organ, they can just take the clone's and stick the poor creature on life support. (Yes, I _know _that Len isn't a direct clone of Rin, so hush).

Also, Miku's characterization practically ran away from me more than once. She is one heck of a mood swinger.

OH, and I'm assuming that everyone's seen the new "image manager" feature? I'm not really sure what to make of that, so for right now I'm not going to use it. So you get to enjoy my profile pic instead.


End file.
